Planned pro soccer arena presents flood risk

When Robert Moses drove the Flushing River underground to create a pond in Flushing Meadows Corona Park for the 1939 World Fair, little did he know it might throw a wrench in plans for another large tourist attraction: the Major League Soccer arena that the Mayor hopes to build there.

The park’s water table is one of the highest in the city — the park was formerly a marshland — and storm flooding could be a problem, one expert says.

Paul Mankiewicz, the director of Bronx-based ecological engineering nonprofit Gaia Institute, did extensive research on the site in prepping New York for a 2012 Olympics bid, and said drainage is possible, though difficult, particularly in a storm. An MLS spokesman told the Queens Chronicle that design plans account for drainage issues. [Queens Chronicle]